Standard Modell 1924 - ETH or CHN?

Hello everyone,

I ran into an interesting rifle the other day that I think some of you might find interesting as well.

A Standard Modell 1924 Mauser. Receiver stamped with the Mauser banner and dated 1934. Serial puts it into the known serial range for Ethiopian and Chinese contracts.

What's weird: Seems to have both Ethiopian and Chinese markings on (matching?) parts. The barrel, seemingly original, has the Ethiopian lion on it. The trigger guard forward of the fixed magazine has several Chinese letters. Additionally, the stock has beading that I have familiarly seen on Ethiopian imports but has a very Chinese-esque style repair of the top handguard done with metal wire.

Does anyone know if any of these rifles could have gone to both countries? It's not like either were largely into the export market in the WWII period?

Additionally, I found the way the serialization on the bolt handle was done was odd, as I've never personally seen the serial prefix and proof stamps on the handle, along with a mismatched safety. None of the examples I could find online seem to have this style. Could be Chinese?

I hope you all found this one as interesting as I did and thank you if any of you have information to share with me.


Thank you,

Patrick

There is ethiopian lion on barell. But when not matching so the parts on the rifle could be mixed from various contracts.

One can observe this particular combination of features quite often in the Standard-Modell B 2XXXX range: Lion of Judah on the barrel, Chinese characters on the TG. M/O had contracts with both countries in this time frame (summer 1934 / 1935). I suppose that those rifles were intended to be shipped to China first (thus the Chinese characters) but were redirected to Abbessinia due to the Italian war there. Some are observed with Amharic inscriptions on the receiver. Weren't there some weapon depots discovered in Ethiopia recently where a lot of those guns, together with others, were piled up by the thousands???
The numbering of the bolt is quite usual for this time frame and range, so nothing to worry about. I guess at some point of its life the bolt had a defective firing pin and it got simply replaced by another one (the whole group, that is). This must have been occured a long time ago, given the condition of all the parts. I agree the nails in the wood are a goof indicator for Ethiopia, and I think reparations with wire can been seen all around the world.
In the end, an old veteran that fought under harsh conditions in a very brutal war, which is still largely number matching.
Congrats!

T

Telperion said:

One can observe this particular combination of features quite often in the Standard-Modell B 2XXXX range: Lion of Judah on the barrel, Chinese characters on the TG. M/O had contracts with both countries in this time frame (summer 1934 / 1935). I suppose that those rifles were intended to be shipped to China first (thus the Chinese characters) but were redirected to Abbessinia due to the Italian war there. Some are observed with Amharic inscriptions on the receiver. Weren't there some weapon depots discovered in Ethiopia recently where a lot of those guns, together with others, were piled up by the thousands???
The numbering of the bolt is quite usual for this time frame and range, so nothing to worry about. I guess at some point of its life the bolt had a defective firing pin and it got simply replaced by another one (the whole group, that is). This must have been occured a long time ago, given the condition of all the parts. I agree the nails in the wood are a goof indicator for Ethiopia, and I think reparations with wire can been seen all around the world.
In the end, an old veteran that fought under harsh conditions in a very brutal war, which is still largely number matching.
Congrats!

T

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Interesting, I had not seen this serialization before and I hadn't seen a redirected example with stamped markings for both before. It seems to be quite ordinary for you, though.

Thank you

Telperion said:

Weren't there some weapon depots discovered in Ethiopia recently where a lot of those guns, together with others, were piled up by the thousands???

Click to expand...

Yeah, it was Uli from Royal Tiger. He made some videos about it. Thousands of old guns of many different types.